Crotty opens door to gay-rights discussion

September 22, 2010|By David Damron, Orlando Sentinel

A day after helping block it, Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty on Wednesday opened the door to holding a public workshop on gay civil-rights efforts to pass a human rights ordinance and extend domestic partner benefits to county employees.

At Tuesday's board meeting, Crotty and two other commissioners – Lui Damiani and Fred Brummer – sided with the mayor on procedural grounds and voted to shut down debate about whether such a workshop should be held.

In a memo to commissioners Wednesday, Crotty reiterated his claim to sole power over setting the agenda on such matters. But Crotty conceded that Commissioner Bill Segal had made a request to bring this issue up in a proper manner, and it should have been added to the agenda for discussion.

Crotty wrote that he would schedule a discussion of the issue at "a future" meeting. If a majority of commissioners backed holding a workshop then, he would set one up "in the coming weeks."

Advocates for the ordinance were glad Crotty conceded the issue should have been debated but were disappointed he did not pledge to move quickly.

"Because this procedure was not done as required previously, resulting in wasted time and an unnecessary rules dispute, and because a majority of the Board has already voted in favor of the workshop, we call on the Mayor to put it on the next available agenda," wrote Mary Meeks, an attorney and member of the Orlando Anti-Discrimination Ordinance Committee.

Crotty would not commit to a specific timeline but said Segal's request could come up at the board's next meeting on Oct. 5. And whether a workhshop occurred quickly would depend on commissioners' goals.

"If there's going to be a workshop, I'm not going to delay," Crotty said.

Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender advocates Tuesday had pointed to supportive letters from local business leaders and from Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and Rollins College President Lewis Duncan. Both asked Crotty to pass the benefits extension and human rights ordinance to help project Orange as a diverse community and aid in recruiting new industry.

Crotty has outlined a number of reasons for delaying any action on these issues, citing potential high costs in the past and on Tuesday said he wanted to avoid being dragged into divisive election-season issues.

It's likely a majority of commissioners would support holding a workshop. During Tuesday's vote, four commissioners – Stewart, Segal, Scott Boyd and Tiffany Moore Russell -- backed holding a discussion on the workshop.

And despite voting with Crotty to block such debate on the issue, Damiani said after Tuesday's meeting that he backed holding a workshop and efforts to combat discrimination. He just didn't support the combative debate that unfolded at the board meeting over how to schedule one. Damiani said he wanted "consensus and collaboration" on the issue.

Despite two previous memos to Crotty asking for debate on the matter, Stewart on Wednesday made the same procedural request Segal did last week to get the workshop issue on the agenda. Stewart also continued to challenge whether Crotty has sole authority over agenda issues.